In His Shadow

Chapter Two: Crimson Interlude

3

AUG/13

Tyler has a police scanner and you have to jog a couple of blocks before you find a second vehicle to carry those who piled into Felicity’s, but once you’re in the mob of Anarchs is an easy thing to follow through the city, for the PCs and shortly after, for the police. There are reports of rioting and violence in Cabrini Green, near the mansions of the Near North Side, and there is a report of a fire-bombing at the Tribute building, as well as other outbreaks spreading throughout the city. You hear that the National Guard will be called in, but won’t arrive for an hour or more.

It is nearly a hundred Anarchs, mostly mortals and packed into a few dozen vehicles, that finally arrive at their destination. Ginny and Phyxius can clearly see a cadre of armed Blood Dolls, though no clear sign of Jason; Gengis and Daddy-D with their respective heavily-armed crews of Bloods and Ghouled Black Panthers respectively; Dickie and Jack and a crowd of howling punks; and at the head of the crowd, Maldavis and Juggler, surrounded by fanatical supporters.

Tyler seems to know, or quickly guess, where they were ultimately headed, and you are able to climb the fire escape to the roof of a nearby building, looking down on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Center. This is the last of the old Elysia of Chicago, and was the very first among the buildings rebuilt after the Great Fire to be named Elysium. It is said that the Elders gathered here, to hunt and to plot their next move in the timeless Jyhad. It is one place where they might still meet.

You get to the roof in time to see everything, the roaring of the engines as they careen through the streets, weaving or smashing through traffic. The streets echo with shouts, and gunfire, and police sirens following behind. It has taken perhaps twenty minutes to cross the city, from Hell House to the Symphony Center with some detours, but the trap is already set.

Out in front of the Sympony Center are Balthazar (Donald mumbles “fuck that guy” under his breath), Doyle, and the Wolf Pack, led by Tyrus.

Phyxius and Tyler can hear, even over the din of engines and shouting:

“Come to turn yourselves in? That’s awful nice of ya.” Blathazar has a combat shotgun over one shoulder and is dressed for combat, as are Doyle, Tyrus and Kyrie.

“Fuck you, pig! We’re here to end you, and those who pull your strings!”

Tyrus walks forward as the mob surrounds his small group. He addresses Maldavis, who is standing in the back of a pickup at the head of the Anarch convoy. “Mal, Balthazar is Prince of Chicago. He’s got the support of the rest of the Sect. There’s a Bloot Hunt on all of you if you don’t turn around right now – assuming your tantrum didn’t do too much damage.”

Maldavis laughs, and it is a high-pitched, strained sound. “Fuck you, fuck Balthazar and fuck your Sect! You’re tough, but not tough enough – and I know you’re not alone, but whatever lackeys you brought won’t be enough either. This is our time – our city – and you’re not welcome!” Everything she says is greeted with cheers and howls from the Anarchs.

Tyrus howls, and from the surrounding alleyways, and the Center itself, you can hear answering howls – dogs and wolves, snarling and baying. A few Ghouls are dragged into view, straining to hold huge dogs on chain leashes. You can hear, and sense, movement in the surrounding buildings. You hear helicopters in the distance, but none approach the scene. Police cars, however, have formed a barrier in the streets surrounding the Center, and they are taking up positions, guns aimed at the mob of Anarchs.

“Dogs and guns? That won’t be enough to -” Maldavis is cut short, as a finger of smoke reaches out from the back of a pickup down the street, and then explodes in a blinding flash of fire among the shocked Anarchs. Howls turn to screams as burning bodies are flung in all directions by the blast, and others are laid low by the impact of the explosion, which can be felt as far away as your vantage-point. Into the smoke and confusion rush kindred and kine from nearby buildings, firing into the Anarch crowd which begins to fire back.

You can see Maldavis a draw a curved blade simmering with supernatural fire (Duecallion: you recognize the Burning Blade ritual, and realize Maldavis knows Thaumaturgy somehow), and next to her is Juggler, laying anyone who comes close to him out with knives. Out of the Symphony Center’s darkened entrance and surrounding alleys, snarling dogs sprint into the melee and start tearing into Anarchs. Tyrus and Kyrie’s eyes are shining red in the darkness, and they are slashing with claws, heedless of the bullets still flying haphazardly through the air.

When kindred meet, there is often a blur as they activate Celerity. When Juggler rushes Tyrus, it is more like an intermittent flash, too fast for the brain to process, as if he is lit by a strobe light. For every slash that he dodges from Tyrus’ claws, he lands two with his knives, but with little effect.

You see a roof-access door open on the Symphony building, and men being pouring out of it, all of the carrying guns – they look like East Asian gangsters, and those with Streetwise can see they are likely Traids. They line up, crouching down, behind the lip of the rooftop, above the fray. Below, the melee continues. Juggler is down, Tyrus’ claws finally having found their mark, but he has leaped on one of the combatants, draining him. Balthazar is faster and stronger than Maldavis, but she lashes out with a strike that seems meant to hit no matter what Balthazar does – she slashes at his face and he falls back, clutching the smoldering wound and cursing.

The men on the rooftop open fire. A hail of bullets rains down on the combatants and the Anarchs finally break, being shot at from all directions, and scatter to the alleyways and to their vehicles, to be pursued by the police who formed a perimeter around the scene.

As the kine break, the kindred Anarchs follow. Genghis and his Bloods flee toward the cops, and they exchange gunfire. Daddy-D is forced down an alley with no exit. Dickie and Jack disappear in the confusion. Maldavis tries to drag Juggler’s limp body away, but is forced to flee from Tyrus, flush again with blood, and Balthazar, half-blinded and cursing. Neither one are interested in testing her burning blade again. As she falls back, she gestures toward the nearest streetlight, and then nearest squad-car, and both go suddenly dark. You lose track of her in the dark, but the last Ginny sees of her, she is still up and fighting her way to an exit.

Tyler is visibly angry, keeping a tight grip on herself. “Maldavis won’t stop. Maybe without the warning,” she glares at Phyxius, Duecallion and Felicity, “it might have gone better, but she won’t stop, and we don’t have the numbers to win. I’d heard she was back, and it was all anyone talked about the last couple of nights – she’s a symbol, and they think she can win. Or thought so. I wish – I wish she’d been taken. And now Ballard thinks he’s Prince.”

“I assume no one here is happy with him as Prince, and that probably means the rest of us will be Blood Hunted before long.”